


Safety

by maddienole



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Daddy Issues, Drunk Number Five | The Boy, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25721044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddienole/pseuds/maddienole
Summary: When Number Five falls, his siblings are there to catch him.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 665





	Safety

Father hated weakness.  
  
Well, father hated most things – _often including his own children_ \- but _especially_ weakness.  
  
It was something Five never told his siblings, about the _pain_.  
  
On good days, he would wake up with some soreness, possibly a headache. On the bad days? It was just...intolerable.  
  
Today was one of those days. His head hurt, his legs hurt, his stomach hurt, god his _hair_ hurt if that was even possible. He knew he had overused his powers, and the exhaustion over the last couple days was catching up to him. The apocalypse was coming, and he was the only one who could save the world.  
  
But he was so....utterly.... _tired_.  
  
The type of tired that seeped into his bones and pounded against his skull. The type of tired that weighed him into the ground and pressed against his brain.  
  
But exhaustion was a weakness. And father _hated_ weakness.  
  
Five took another sip of...what did he get again? Tequila, he thought. It was bitter and tasted quite awful to his thirteen-year-old taste buds, but it numbed the soreness in his muscles and the pounding in his head.  
  
Where even was he?  
  
Some bar, perhaps. It was dark and full of chatter and people....  
  
God, he _despised_ people.  
  
He hated being touched and talked to and rubbed against. He hated people looking at him and judging him and talking down to him. Maybe it was all those years spent alone with only Dolores, but he found the human race utterly intolerable.  
  
In fact, it was incredible _loud_ in this place, wasn’t it?  
  
The loudness was making his head hurt even worse, the lights were stinging his eyes and suddenly this room felt a lot more cramped than before.  
  
He stumbled his way through the bar, past the people and the dancing and the _loud_ , to the back door that led him outside.  
  
The night air assaulted him, and Five found that even the simple act of walking was made much more difficult when you added alcohol to the equation. He could try to teleport home, but.... _where was he again?  
_  
Everything just.... _hurt_.  
  
It took another minute of stumbling, maybe two minutes at most, before his legs collapsed from underneath him. He dragged himself into an alleyway and huddled up close to preserve warmth.  
  
How did he end up here?  
  
There were things he had to do, a world that needed saving. And yet all he could do was sit in a cold dark alleyway feeling bad for himself.  
  
He could feel the tears stinging in his eyes.  
  
No.  
  
He would not cry. He simply would _not_. Just the thought was inconceivable.  
  
Father hated weakness.  
  
And Number Five was _not_ weak.  
  
He batted the tears away with the back of his hand and closed his eyes. He would rest, for just a second. It was all he needed, really.  
  
Just a second…  
_  
“Five?”_  
  
His eyes snapped open, feeling a sudden onset of nausea.  
  
Did he....fall asleep?  
  
_“Five? You alright?”_  
  
It had to have been one of his siblings, Allison, he wagered. The voice sounded female.  
  
And _loud._  
  
_“Five? Come on, talk to me.”  
_  
The voice sounded terribly upset. They gripped his shoulders and started to shake.  
  
_Oh.....no....no....no....no._  
  
Not the shaking. Anything but that.  
  
_“Guys, I found him!”_  
  
He heard more footsteps, more talking. He wasn’t quite sure what they were saying, each word melting into one another.  
  
_“The hell is he doing out here?”  
  
“Has he been drinking?”  
  
“He looks like shit....”_  
  
The nausea already present in his stomach turned volatile, and he struggled to his knees as the contents of his stomach were expelled onto the pavement.  
  
_“Ah, shit! Five, what the fu-“  
_  
Sounded like Diego. Probably.

_“What is he doing out here?”_

_“….how did he….”_

_“…..is he sick? Why doesn’t he tell us anything?”  
_  
_“C’mon, let’s get him home.”  
_  
Five felt himself being lifted with a strong pair of arms _\- it had to be Luther’s_ \- and he pressed his face into the larger man’s chest as he tried to block out all of the lights and sounds. Number One wasn’t the most graceful in his movements, and he was jostled with every step. It sent a stabbing pain through his head down to his stomach, which left him squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to block it out. A soft moan escaped from his lips - _a momentary lapse of weakness_ \- one in which father would not approve.  
  
“It’s alright, old man,” Luther murmured. “We’re almost there.”  
  
Five wasn’t sure when he blacked out exactly, but he woke up again to a cool hand stroking his cheek. He didn’t feel any better, per say _\- the world had turned from a large black blur to a large colored blur -_ but he recognized that he was indoors somewhere.  
  
“Five? Are you feeling alright?”  
  
“Mother?” he murmured, feeling rather faint.  
  
“Vanya,” she chuckled. “But close.”  
  
A pause.  
  
“What happened out there?”  
  
He wanted to answer her, but he wasn’t sure he could. There were others in the room with them, he could make out Luther in the back, one female figure _\- must be Allison_ \- and....was it Diego? Klaus? He couldn’t tell.  
  
Five laid his head back down as Vanya gently stroked his hand.  
  
The contact....it actually felt good, for once. Just that knowledge that _finally_ , after so many years, there were people here beside him.  
  
“Just rest, alright? We’ll be here when you wake up.”  
  
_“Right Diego?”_  
  
An elbow. Then a grunt.  
  
_“Yeah....no, I mean, of course. You’re still an idiot though.”  
  
“Diego!”  
  
“What?...he is though....”  
  
“Can everyone shut up?”  
  
“Why should I have to shut up when...”  
_  
Vanya gently maneuvered his head onto her lap, still holding onto his hand while the bellows of their siblings rang in the background.  
  
Five was....warm. He was comfortable. He was safe.  
  
And for now, that would have to be enough.


End file.
